Waking up only to see her sole surviving kin commit murder with her own eyes—
Forget the fact that Su Zhuo was merely a strong-willed businesswoman navigating the corporate tides; even a battle-hardened Transcendent might not have managed to remain calm.
In Huaxia, the philosophy of severe penalties in chaotic times had endured to this day. The authorities already had their hands full dealing with an endless stream of transcendent incidents. Thus, to deter anyone harboring malicious intent, whether Transcendent or ordinary citizen, anyone who dared commit murder within city limits faced the maximum penalty without exception once apprehended by the Public Security Bureau.
Su Zhuo’s impulse to take the blame for Yu Xian was, in truth, an intention to trade her own life for his.
Yet before she could formulate a viable excuse, the resurrected Zhang Shou pushed himself up from the floor and walked over to the hospital bed alongside Yu Xian.
“Auntie!”
“Auntie?”
Seeing Su Zhuo sit up, Yu Xian called out to her.
That was how he had addressed her since childhood, and because they had grown up with it, neither he nor Su Zhuo had ever seen any issue with the diminutive phrasing.
It was much like families where parents called their child “baby” from infancy; even after the child grew up, the habit stuck, and no matter their age, they remained a baby in their eyes.
Su Zhuo, however, merely stared blankly at Zhang Shou, as though completely deaf to Yu Xian’s voice.
Lacking mind-reading abilities, Yu Xian had no way of knowing what was racing through her head. He instinctively glanced at Zhang Shou, who furrowed his brows and said, “Strange. Could Auntie Su have some other condition we don’t know about? Emotional detachment? Or damage to her brain’s memory centers?”
“Little Xian, am I… dreaming?” Su Zhuo finally came to her senses, slowly turning her gaze toward Yu Xian to ask.
She was positive her eyes hadn't deceived her. A moment ago, Yu Xian had unquestionably blasted a gaping hole right through Zhang Shou’s forehead. Why was Zhang Shou suddenly bouncing around full of life now, acting like the closest of brothers with Yu Xian?
Her mental gears smoked, completely unable to process the logic.
Had she finally uncovered definitive proof that this world was a simulation?
In the next instant, however, an emotional Yu Xian threw his arms around her. Hearing his choked, agitated sobs, her doubts, confusion, and lingering insecurity were all swept away.
Before Yu Xian, she was the adult. Even if the sky fell, she would hold it up for him.
Smiling, she gently patted Yu Xian’s back and said softly, “All right, look at how big you’ve grown, still clinging to your auntie like a baby. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Auntie Su, let Salty Fish cry for a bit,” Zhang Shou whispered to Su Zhuo, wiping his reddened eyes. “This past year really hasn't been easy on him.”
Losing his mother in early childhood, his father in his youth, and nearly dying of illness himself in the end.
Though Yu Xian had matured earlier than his peers, true emotional invulnerability was another matter entirely. Between reclaiming what was lost and the weight of everything behind him, he could hardly keep his composure before his only living kin.
Having joined Qilin, Zhang Shou understood Yu Xian’s circumstances intimately, and seeing this reunion filled his heart with genuine happiness for his friend.
Just then, an intense golden radiance abruptly beamed in through the window. All three instinctively turned toward the glass, only to see a colossal metallic halo hovering in the skies above Tianjing City.
The metallic ring spanned nearly the entire expanse of the city, inscribed with countless ancient runes.
All three laid eyes on the runes, yet the second their gaze shifted away, their minds could retain not the slightest trace of them.
“Damn it, the Extreme Dragon locked onto me!”
The moment Yu Xian saw the halo, he recognized it as belonging to the Extreme Dragon.
His expression shifted slightly. Without waiting for Zhang Shou or Su Zhuo to ask, he immediately encased both of them in spatial bubbles, teleporting them to Silver City in the blink of an eye.
Next, he teleported outside Tianjing City. Sure enough, the halo looming over the city swiftly gave chase.
“Appraisal!”
Yu Xian immediately cast the skill on himself.
When his attribute panel opened, however, he found his lifespan had turned into ‘???’. Taken aback, he promptly enveloped himself in a spatial bubble and vanished, instantly teleporting to the dead world.
Standing upon the fissure-riddled ground, he appraised himself once more. As expected, his lifespan had returned to ‘3648922477’.
“Scared the hell out of me.”
Sitting inside the bubble, Yu Xian finally exhaled in relief.
He had never imagined the Extreme Dragon would actually be able to track him down. Talk about holding a petty grudge—it was just sending a few pieces of trash over, was there really any need to get that furious?
Could it be that from now on, the Extreme Dragon would come after him the moment he returned to his original world?
Though he didn't regret sending the Namo scum to the dragon's doorstep, this was undeniably a massive headache.
Sitting inside his bubble and gazing up at the overcast sky, Yu Xian felt weighed down with worry.
He had only just regained what he thought was lost forever.
Now he actually had family again. If he didn't go back, Su Zhuo would surely be worried sick.
*No, I have to figure out a way back.*
Yu Xian took a deep breath, resolutely pulling himself together as his Super Brain went to work formulating a strategy.
Fighting the Extreme Dragon directly was out of the question, and the dragon seemed to possess spatial abilities as well—that halo had teleported out of thin air above Tianjing City. He wasn't even certain whether the dragon would be trapped here if he somehow transported it to this world.
As for shifting the misfortune onto someone else?
Onto whom?
At present, aside from the Extreme Dragon, the only entity Yu Xian couldn't see through was Asonis.
Yet he had no clue where Asonis was, leaving him with no way to bait the two together even if he wanted to. Besides, what if the Extreme Dragon won again?
Between the Extreme Dragon and Asonis, it was genuinely hard to say who was stronger.
Both exceeded the bounds of his Appraisal. While he personally felt Asonis might have the edge—seeing as his eyeballs had exploded just from laying eyes on Asonis, whereas he could at least look directly at the Extreme Dragon—that could simply be his limited perspective.
What if the Extreme Dragon hailed from an even terrifyingly greater origin?
Nearly ten minutes passed before Yu Xian closed his eyes, controlling an eyeball bubble outside Tianjing City to look up at the sky. The halo from before had already vanished.
Fortunately, it seemed the Extreme Dragon couldn't maintain its lock once he switched worlds. Still, that didn't mean he would be safe the moment he returned.
As he continued pondering how to shake off the Extreme Dragon’s pursuit, a faint, indistinct sound drifted down from above. He immediately snapped his head up toward the overcast sky.
That thick layer of dark clouds was actually the dead world’s final shield for the living beings on this ground, keeping out the gaze of the Abyss. It was precisely because the giant serpent had shattered the clouds above that Asonis had discovered it, ultimately reducing it to a light snack.
*Jingle, jingle, jingle-ling-ling…*
The sounds in the sky grew steadily clearer. Soon, Yu Xian watched as a barefoot woman stepped across the empty air, descending from above stride by stride. She wore a draped golden robe, her ankles, wrists, waist, neck, and ears adorned with numerous bells, and long green hair cascaded loosely over her shoulders.
For reasons unknown, despite radiating a sense of power so immense it defied description, she stirred no fear within him whatsoever. On the contrary, an extraordinary serenity washed over his heart.
He watched in a daze as she walked from the sky down to the earth, finally coming to a halt right in front of him.
By the time he came to his senses, it was clearly too late to teleport away. Belatedly realizing how terrifying this woman truly was, he found that he had entirely dropped his guard in her presence.
“Appraisal!”
Locking eyes with the woman, Yu Xian instinctively triggered the skill.
In an instant, her attribute panel materialized in his mind.
——————
Name: Zhenwo Changjing
Codename: Changjing Wole
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: ???
Lifespan: ∞
Level: ???
Faction: ???
Abilities:
[Nirvanic Eternal Peace: ???]
[Contemplating the Body as Pure: ???]
[Contemplating Sensation as Bliss: ???]
[Contemplating the Mind as Impermanent: ???]
[Contemplating Phenomena as Non-Self: ???]
[Impurity Made Pure: ???]
[Severing Attachment to Self: ???]
[Body of Illusory Conjunction: ???]
[Fundamentally Devoid of Self and Other: ???]
[Summary: ???]
——————
A whole lot of nothing.
Yu Xian hadn't expected her stats to be an unbroken wall of question marks as well. Yet why were the names of her abilities displayed?
So far, she was only the second entity whose Appraisal returned all question marks. But while the Extreme Dragon showed nothing but question marks across the board, she displayed an infinite lifespan and visible ability names, even if the detailed descriptions were entirely obscured.
Yu Xian couldn't fathom why that was. Swallowing nervously, he asked with utmost caution, “Excuse me… is there something you need?”
“Nothing in particular. Our karmic paths simply happen to align, and I require your company for a stretch of the journey.” Zhenwo Changjing’s eyes seemed capable of peering straight through the human soul. Looking directly into Yu Xian’s eyes, she answered with an expression of pure equanimity.
Yu Xian’s head swam with question marks. He desperately wanted to shout, *Riddlers deserve to die!* But after sneaking another glance at Zhenwo Changjing, he wisely backed down, not daring to voice his inner thoughts.
For a good while, the two stood there staring blankly at each other.
Unable to endure the eerie silence, Yu Xian simply directed his bubble to drift toward the direction where he had previously discovered the giant serpent.
After floating a fair distance away, he looked back over his shoulder at Zhenwo Changjing, who remained rooted in place, and let out a small breath of relief.
*Great, she didn't follow.*
Yet when he turned his eyes forward again, Zhenwo Changjing was already standing a short distance ahead, waiting for him.
*What the hell.*
His face drained of color. Turning around, he saw that the Zhenwo Changjing who had been standing behind him was completely gone.
*Damn it all.*
At that moment, Yu Xian couldn't help but wear a mask of utter agony. It felt as though he had tangled himself up with something profoundly unclean.
Sure enough, places swallowed by the Abyss were far too dangerous. The slightest carelessness could invite catastrophic trouble and leave one haunted by bizarre, inexplicable things.
He desperately wanted to go home. He missed Su Zhuo, he missed Nora, he missed Old Zhang…
Chapter 140